Leadership as a portal to good, hard things

We are all teachers AND students of life. It’s important we claim both. As students, we soak up and savor and seek all the guidance and wisdom from our teachers. I love love love being a student.

As teachers – any sort of position that calls on us to lead (parenting, business, activism, etc) – we get to radiate all that we’ve learned along the way in our student journeys. As teachers, we’re leaders. And leadership is hard, ya’ll. It is NOT my default role. I’m much more cozy being a student. But if I want to be an engaged, guide/parent. If I want to run the business I want to run. And If I want to start convos about joy, creativity, and soul work, well, I have to put my leadership hat on. Leadership is simply being a steward of all that we’ve learned AND responsibly offer it up in service to others.

Yikes. And awesome.

ALL of my best and many mistakes have come from fumbling as a leader. I’ve had mentors reassure me, “This is the shitty part of leadership. I’m so sorry. Keep going. Your voice matters.“ And I suppose that’s what leadership is. It’s stepping into our stories and voices and learnings and creativity and using it as material to be a force of good in the world DESPITE the inevitable sh*tstorms that WILL come.

I never imagined myself as a leader, but I have to say, the more I accept the leader that I’m becoming, the more badass I feel. I have learned how to stand firm in my boundaries, to say no. I’ve learned how to be clear, how to invite in what I want, how to burn down the rest, how to pioneer a life and a business that feels courageous. Leadership is a portal – if we allow it to be – into a deeper awareness, a spiritual growth of our purpose, and potential.

All of this is to say that Brene Brown has written an important book. She has SO MUCH wisdom about how to be a daring, loving, force-of-good leader in the world. Leaders (that’s all of us), go get this book. You won’t be disappointed.

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